


Thirty Years

by Raj_Sound



Series: Post-Graduate Relationship Studies [4]
Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Birthday, Established Relationship, F/M, Family Feels, Fluff, Future Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:41:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28184079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raj_Sound/pseuds/Raj_Sound
Summary: "...now that you’re thirty and I’m forty-six, we finally pass theHalf Your Age Plus Seventest. Which means that by the arbitrary standards imposed by our society, we are finally an age-appropriate couple."
Relationships: Annie Edison/Jeff Winger
Series: Post-Graduate Relationship Studies [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2068842
Comments: 20
Kudos: 81





	Thirty Years

**Author's Note:**

> In celebration of our favorite adorable Type-A nerd’s birthday.

Annie Winger wakes up to two distinct, but complimentary aromas. The first is fresh brewed coffee, with a hint of cinnamon. The second is pancakes. Now normally Jeff never eats pancakes, let alone makes them, but today is no ordinary day.

Today is Annie’s birthday.

She grins, pretending to still be asleep as her husband carefully creeps into the room carefully balancing a tray laden with coffee and pancakes with one arm and carrying their daughter in the other.

_ “Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday dear Annie. Happy Birthday to you,” _ Jeff and Chloe sing softly. Admittedly, Chloe’s rendition is less than articulate and a little off-key, but it’s not bad for an almost two-year-old.

“Awww. You made me pancakes? That’s so sweet!” Annie says happily as she stretches out and shifts in the bed to sit upright.

“I help,” Chloe says proudly.

“You did?”

“She stirred things,” Jeff explains as he places the tray on Annie’s lap. “And don’t worry. I will clean up the kitchen.”

“How much of the batter actually wound up on the griddle?” Annie asks shrewdly. She stabs a piece of cake with her fork, which has already been conveniently cut into squares and soaked in syrup.

“About half, I think.”

“These are good!” Annie says after a bite, delightfully surprised. “What kind of flour did you use?”

“Real flour,” Jeff replies. The last time Jeff attempted to make pancakes, he made keto-friendly low-carb pancakes out of almond flour that were basically inedible. “I learned my lesson.”

“You braved carbs for me? Someone knows how to make a girl feel special,” Annie beams. She looks up at him expectantly, which prompts Jeff to lean in for a kiss. It’s a soft, sweet kiss, loving and familiar.

“Why does your mouth taste all minty?” Jeff asks, noting the hint of toothpaste behind the maple.

“Ummm…”

“Did you wake up, brush your teeth, realize what we were doing, then go back to bed and pretend you were asleep?” Jeff asks, bemused.

“To be fair, I did fall back asleep. I just didn’t want to have morning breath,” Annie explains.

“See that? Your mom is tricky. Gotta keep an eye on her,” Jeff says conspiratorially to their daughter.

“Mommy silly,” Chloe giggles.

“Yes she is. Okay. You, relax and enjoy your breakfast. I’m gonna go feed Chloe and clean up the kitchen.” 

“Sounds good,” Annie replies. “I’m gonna hop in the shower after I finish eating and then I’ll join you. Love you!”

“Love you too.”

* * *

Annie grins when she steps out of the bathroom to discover that her plate and mug have already been cleared. Jeff is just as much of a neat freak as she is, so between the two of them, the Winger household stays pretty tidy, even with a toddler in the house. She considers skipping her makeup and putting on a pair of yoga pants and an old t-shirt, but maintaining a degree of normalcy has been critical to retaining her sanity through the ongoing quasi-quarantine in the city, so she goes with a comfortable sundress and flats instead.

She finds Jeff downstairs in the kitchen, dutifully cleaning up Chloe’s high chair while their daughter sits in her playpen, amusing herself with one of Annie’s stuffies.

“Hey there beautiful,” Jeff says as Annie enters the kitchen.

“Hey you,” Annie replies. “Did she eat okay?” She goes to check on Chloe, who seems more interested in the stuffed bear than in her mother at the moment.

“Well, half of it wound up on her instead of in her, but we managed.”

“We’ll work on that. What time’s the party?” Annie asks.

“I told everyone to login at seven.” Both the geographic distance between the various members of the group as well as the social distance required to stay safe in the era of COVID-19 meant that the party would take place on Zoom. “Speaking of which, the others went in for a group gift, but I wanted to get you a little something myself,” Jeff says. He hands her a small rectangular box wrapped in purple paper.

“Jeff! You didn’t have to get me anything,” Annie insists. “Hanukkah just ended yesterday.”

“With all due respect to your heritage, there is no way I’m letting your birthday get upstaged by the Festival of Lights,” Jeff replies.

“Occupational hazard of a December birthday,” Annie shrugs. “It’s really not a big deal.”

“You’re thirty. It’s a big deal.”

“Mmmm. Thirty. The big three-oh,” Annie says sagely. She’s been looking forward to this one. “ I’m officially a real grownup.”

“You have a Master’s degree, laboratory credentials, a 401K, and a child,” Jeff muses. “Pretty sure you’ve been a ‘real grownup’ for a while now.”

“Didn’t you used to say I’m part of the ‘adulthood begins at thirty’ generation?” Annie asks. He did.

“I have no memory of that,” Jeff replies. He does. “However, now that you’re thirty and I’m forty-six, we finally pass the  _ Half Your Age Plus Seven _ test. Which means that by the arbitrary standards imposed by our society, we are finally an age-appropriate couple.” He sounds oddly vindicated by this, even though their age difference hasn’t really bothered him for the last few years.

“Awww. Do we get a plaque? Or a trophy?”

“Just a certificate. Still very official though.”

“I’ll put it in the filing cabinet with our marriage license and our daughter’s birth certificate,” Annie replies with a smirk.

“So, do you want to open your present now, or later?” Jeff asks.

“Depends. Is this the kind of present I’d be comfortable opening in front of Pierce?” Annie asks knowingly. Normally Jeff saves the more scandalous gifts for Valentine’s Day, but it doesn’t hurt to ask.

Jeff laughs. “Probably. Although Pierce can drag anything into the gutter.”

“I’ll save it for the party then.”

“You know, you never did tell me what you wanted to do on your birthday,” Jeff mentions. “I know our options are limited with the plague and all, but I’m sure we can do something fun.”

“Anything good on Netflix?” Annie asks. She grabs the remote and turns on the TV and starts idly flipping through the Netflix app.

“We could watch Tiger King.”

“Eh. I feel like the moment has passed.”

“That’s fair. You want to do something a little more physical?” Jeff asks suggestively.

“Like what?” Annie asks coyly.

Jeff grins as he fiddles with his phone, prompting Annie to shoot him a curious look. She smiles as he cues up some salsa music through the surround sound. Pre-pandemic, they started taking salsa lessons on their date nights, and while they weren’t experts by any means, they still enjoyed it. 

“Milady,” Jeff says, offering his hand.

“Milord,” Annie replies as she takes it.

Jeff gently pulls her into his arms and they step into the beat. They’ve done this long enough and know each other well enough to anticipate each other’s moves, but it still gives her a little thrill when he spins her and dips her. Annie giggles when she sees Chloe smiling and reaching for them from within her playpen.

“I think she wants to cut in,” Annie says.

“Sorry kiddo. I saw her first,” Jeff says. 

“Jeff! You’re terrible.”

He just grins and pulls her in closer. Both of their hips sashay with the beat. Annie smiles up at him as the song winds down. Jeff dips her one last time as the song ends, leaning in to steal a kiss.

“You know,” Annie says as another song starts, this one slower and simpler. “I was thinking later tonight we could do something productive.”

“What did you have in mind? Update our resumes? Get a head start on filing our taxes? Create Linkedin profiles?” Jeff teases.

“I was thinking something more...reproductive,” Annie says thoughtfully.

Jeff raises an eyebrow. They’ve talked about expanding their little family before, several times in fact, but it was always in future, hypothetical terms. This seems more concrete.

“Really?” Jeff asks.

Annie nods. “Work is good. We’ve got a good routine down and a decent nest egg built up. And we’re actually in the window this time,” she says, referring to her self-identified baby window, which they deviated from when they decided to have Chloe. “I’m ready. Are you?”

“Yeah, I am,” Jeff replies. 

“Good to know.” She rests her head against his chest and smiles as they sway to the music.

“It’s been a crazy year,” Jeff says thoughtfully after they dance for a while. “And we went to  _ Greendale.” _

“I know, right?” Annie replies. 2020 had a way of making everyone reevaluate their priorities. “I wouldn’t change a thing though. Just so you know.”

“Really?” Jeff asks. “Not even the global pandemic?”

“Okay, yes that, obviously,” Annie says, having assumed he was talking about their lives rather than the world as a whole, “But this,” she clarifies, “Us. I wouldn’t trade what we have for anything.”

“Yeah?”

Annie has known Jeff for eleven years, been married to him for almost half of them, and loved him for nearly all of them. “Yeah,” she says softly. “I’m really happy Jeff.”

Jeff reaches down and brushes Annie’s hair away from her face, caressing her cheek as he leans in to kiss her again. It’s funny. He’s kissed her literally thousands of times over the years, and it still never gets old.

In fact, some things get better with age.

“Happy Birthday Annie.”


End file.
